Boro Park Snapshot: Beyond the Tires: Getting “SWASHED”

By: Heshy Rubenstein, BP24

You’re seeing more and more of them around Boro Park… striking water-blue colored vans, their back doors wide open in a beehive of activity, alongside a car or van that is in the midst of getting a thorough cleaning inside and out. 

SWASH—a revolutionary approach to car washing— is less than one year old, but it already has four “SWASH-mobiles” and seven full-time washers speeding their washes around town, making one vehicle after another seem “like they just rolled out of the dealership.” All at the time and place of the customer’s choosing. 

With Pesach inching closer every day (ready or not!)—and with it the “rush to wash” our vehicles free of any chometz—BP24 sat down with Mr. Yidel Kahan, CEO of SWASH. 

Kahan, a second-generation Boro Parker, is the grandson of the legendary Reb Betzalel Kahan, z”l, longtime director of the Zhelimer institutions, who sadly passed away from Covid-19 in recent months. BP24’s Heshy Rubenstein recalled interviewing Reb Betzalel in Miami, where he related his harrowing survival of the Holocaust—and his frightful experiences of Kristallnacht in Vienna. 

So Yidel  has his roots firmly planted in Boro Park, after his family rebuilt on these shores, and so he is driven to improve the lives of residents of Boro Park and beyond. After getting his start at Me’foar Judaica for seven years, he was ready to strike out on his own. “Me’foar instilled in me a passion for customer satisfaction, and this my guiding philosophy, SWASH’s most important priority; we go above and beyond to ensure that our customers are satisfied.” 

After experiencing the service himself, Heshy Rubenstein confirms: “Not only did my car look and smell like it was brand new—they even leave a signature bottle of water after every wash!” 

“I thought to myself,” Yidel recalls, “it’s 2020, and convenience is the name of the game. What is a service that can be made more convenient? The thing is, many people would really like to walk into their cars that have recently been washed. But people are working hard; they leave for work before the car wash opens, and they return home after it has been closed. 

SWASH comes to you, wherever you are. “If you plan to be shopping during a certain hour, SWASH will make sure to be there during that convenient slot, or if you’re at work, or shul, or home, or anywhere else,” Kahan explains. 

SWASH has also been doing more work in Flatbush, Williamsburg, and Lakewood—and they have special corporate, so if a group of workers at a company, in New Jersey, for example, want to get it done at work, SWASH will come out to you . They also offer a monthly or bi-weekly, rate, where they will call you to arrange the periodic SWASH on a steady basis. 

With Pesach approaching, SWASH is already getting overwhelmed with calls, so they are opening a SWASH center adjacent to the Amazing Savings lot—by appointment only—which is easy to do by call or WhatsApp, at (718) 831-2323. 

With all the stress swirling all around us, SWASH may be that extra convenience you’re looking for this erev Pesach. 

“Beyond the…” series goes behind the sites and sounds, personalities and institutions of our Boro Park shtetl. Comments and suggestions may be sent to [email protected]